I consider myself to still be a new teacher; one with many fresh ideas and an enthusiasm for incorporating technology into lesson plans and in the classroom setting. While I am a "new generation" teacher, I am still very old fashioned when it comes to social etiquette, manners and inspiring kids to be kind to everyone. I enforce a strong "bully free zone." I appreciate your blog and highlighting the importance of teaching students how to be a good online citizen! I find that even students who are generally polite and have manners often let their guard down and take a walk on the wild side when they enter the tech-world. Unfortunately, some students who don't come across as a bully in a general social setting, may feel "safe" or "untouchable" behind a computer screen and keyboard. Just as teachers spend time in the beginning of the year (or before any group work or activity) explaining acceptable and appropriate behavior, this should be applied to technology learning settings as well. Teachers must first have a realistic idea of all that could potentially go wrong or ways students could get themselves into trouble, and then create a code of conduct and expectations for students to follow. There is much to be considered before placing a laptop or social networking site at the student's fingertips. Set the standards high, and remind students that technology is a privilege to enhance their learning. They must prove and earn their rights to interact in a respectful way with all of their classmates. And finally, teachers must know how to monitor all student activity to hold students accountable and responsible for their actions. A student can quickly sense if their teacher is or is not tech-savvy.
On a side note, I really enjoyed reading many of your blog posts as well as the resources and links you provided! Thank you!

As a 5/6 grade health and pe teacher, the curriculum has changed recently in the past years about what social skills we teach. We still have the face-to-face character education lessons about social responilities and actions, but also internet safety and virtual interaction. I think students this age are oblivious to what could happen to them when chatting with people they do not know or knowing that what they post on facebook or other social networks can be seen by many people! I agree that they need to be taught or they may never learn the respectful way to comment on others online work.

I am just now researching how to use blogs with my first graders. My first concern was and continues to be: Is it appropriate and safe to have first graders social networking on blogs. We spend so much time teaching them social skills they need to have in the classroom, now it is just as important to teach them the social skills they will need to use and stay safe in the digital world. Thanks for the article which included some really good links for more information.

It is so true that these are new social skills for our students and that it is vitally important for our students to understand web etiquette. I have a sister that's in high school and I'd say most of her communication with friends outside of school is through Facebook, Twitter, texting, etc. They are wonderful tools for social network! However, as they are not face-to-face interactions, bullying becomes more likely to occur and even a normal conversation can be misinterpreted. I agree that as educators we need to provide our students with the tools for a positive and successful web experience.

Teaching digital citizenship is essential - certainly the kids are not figuring it out themselves. Under new rules issued in August, for e-Rate schools, the certification due to the FTC in July 2012 requires schools to certify that they have in place a program to teach digital citizenship.

http://www.federalregister.gov/articles/2011/09/13/2011-23267/schools-an...

I know here in New York there are many ads about cyber bullying and the like. In the school I used to teach in we had a 5th grade teacher who used a closed in-system network with his class. He would teach them how to network and how to use etiquette so when they were out "in the wild" they would hopefully be better online citizens. His idea was that the technology wasn't going away so we'd better teach them how to use it properly. Kudos to you for starting them that young!